Differentiation of foraging traits among predator populations may help explain observed variation in the structure of prey communities. However, few studies have investigated the phenotypic effects of predators on their prey in natural communities. Here, we use a comparative analysis of 78 Greenlandic lakes to examine how foraging trait variation among threespine stickleback populations can help explain variation in zooplankton community composition among lakes. We find that landscape-scale variation in zooplankton composition was jointly explained by lake properties, such as size and water chemistry, and the presence and absence of both stickleback and arctic char. Additional variation in zooplankton community structure can be explained by stickleback jaw protrusion, a trait with known utility for foraging on zooplankton, but only in lakes where stickleback co-occur with arctic char. Overall, our results illustrate how trait variation of predators, alongside other ecosystem properties, can influence the composition of prey communities in nature.

中文翻译：

---

鱼类捕食者及其觅食特征在塑造浮游动物群落结构中的作用

捕食者群体中觅食特征的差异可能有助于解释观察到的猎物群落结构的变化。然而，很少有研究调查自然群落中捕食者对其猎物的表型影响。在这里，我们对 78 个格陵兰湖泊进行了比较分析，以研究三刺刺鱼种群之间的觅食性状差异如何有助于解释湖泊之间浮游动物群落组成的变化。我们发现浮游动物组成的景观尺度变化是由湖泊特性共同解释的，例如大小和水化学，以及刺鱼和北极红点的存在和不存在。浮游动物群落结构的其他变化可以通过刺鱼下巴突出来解释，这种特征已知可用于以浮游动物为食，但仅限于刺鱼与北极红点鲑共存的湖泊。总的来说，我们的结果说明了捕食者的性状变异以及其他生态系统特性如何影响自然界中猎物​​群落的组成。